Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1887-10-31
THE CITY OF NANTES.
A PEOPLE WHOSE COSTUMES ARE
or ECCENTRIC DESCRIPTION.

A Refuge from the Artificial Life at the
French Capitai-A Home1ike Meal at a
Hotei-Prineipal Business street-A
RoyaIist's Opinion OF the City
Nantes takes a certain character from
the sea, from the fishermen and from all
the queer types Of humanity who dwell
along the coast Of this department and Of
Morblnan well on up toward Brest The
Costumes Of these people are Of the most
eccentric description, so much SO that IL IS
said that nowhere else in France can there
be seen such a variety. Some are strik-
iGesly picturesque. There is the peasant
woman, for Instance, whose business it is
10 cultivate early potatoes in the sand
near No!rmoutier and bring them to mar
ket. She wears a skirt coming just below
the knees, small cap some SORT II apron,
checked or otherwise, and has the
foot, ankle and calf entirely exposed, or
shoes Or sabots neatly polished and stock
ings closely fitting and often Of intricate
pattern. The shoes and hosiery are their
special weakness, add il is not rare 10 see
among them well made foot and ankle.
The entire costume is commonly in sober
colOrs and neatly kept On the contrary,
you see little girls with long skirts com
ing 10 the soles Of the shoe. who look a. if
they had just stepped from one Of Van
dykes portraits.
As a specimen Of the male costume Of
Morbihan, we have the low crowned
round topped hat Of velvet, or Of straw or
felt bound with velvet, very jaunty, or,
as the French would say, chic. The
jacket Is something like the volnminous
exterior garment OF our ancestors Of the
30. %. ~
same, and gay with rows Of buttons so
thickly set that they overlap one an
other. The collar Of the shirt is as broad
as a ships mainsall 1t Is open in front
and rises stiiiy up behind the head, serv-
ing az a background to a face that il the
picture of innocence and as quaint as the
costume itself
1t is a pleasant relief 10 get away from
the highly artificial life and the highly ar
titical articles Of food and drink at Paris
even 10 n stupid and not over clearly place
Ike Nantes. The country offers its treas
ures more generously than the city. 1t is
pleasant to know that the wines, If they
are not Clos Vougeot, Pomard, Chateau
Iefite or Chateau Yquen, are at least all
they pretend to be; that you are near the
place where people produce their own but
ter and lay their own eggs; where they
even put the butter on the table and sell
their milk at four cents quart from the
wagons in the street and at the corner
groceries 1t Is really with a homelike
feeling that you sit down to breakfast or
dinner in hotel in town in Anjou, or
at the hotel at Nantes on which | be-
slowed my humble patronage. The still
ness that peryades the dining room is sol
emn. You hear two or three flies buzzing
behind the lace curtains that drape the
windows. You took up 10 the ceiling not
painted by Michael Angelo, but by some
unmmortalized local fresco painter, in
imitation Of the sky. You don't remem-
Der ever 10 have seen exactly such shades
Of blue in the armament before. But no
matter The chandeliers are attached to
the ceiling with blue ribbons painted fiat
thereon, the ends drawn out sideways and
held in the beaks of doves, the species
and the school Of art being alike unfa-
mliar.
Into the room steal furtively from time
TO time representatives Of the Nantals
bourgeoiso-sold, solemn, funereal-who
TRANQUILITY partake of the several courses
and then steal away MS stenIthily as they
entered Perhaps there enters a whole
Breton family - father, mother, sons,
daughters and bonne-all Of whom make
the sign of the cross before taking their
uloccs Their dress is ouiet and their
manners almost as reverentiaI as If they
,yerp in church The repast il served by
the mnttrc eorcons-one gray haired
whom Won seem faIntlv 10 recollect as
having seen in tae opera of 'The Hugue-
not-.' Their duty is performed decorously
and entirely in keeping with the sur
rGundugs There is none of bewardage
So often seen Mt French tables The
cuisine i, rnther remarkable for its pro
fusion tbau {ts fine oualitv Tins reversing
the Partisan rule. Some dishes are even
left ON the table where persons can helm
themselves Nothing could he more
nm pnrisian The butter is Of n char
meter to attract attention. There are
perbnns twenty persons MT table icorn-
noratiyeIv few persons come to Nantes)
and there are four rolls of golden
butter distributed along the table.
eoch WEIGHING ut least n pound and like
everything else offered Won II Is So discre-
zion" Then Won drink. if Won are dis
ro-ed a whole bottle Of white or rod wine
The hotel Is believe the hest in Nontes
and vonr breakfast and dinner cost Won
to,,ciber only five cranes a dav while a
frond room costs only tbree frames moro
In coming from Cholet to Nantes made
the ACQUAINTANCE of n vounp LAWYER of
poitiers a royalist by birth and poiitical
preference and most charming and in
tcIlirent travelling companion He said to
mo "Nautes il a willie de luxen Ash
havn already remarked this ia not init
mated TO the stranger There il nothing
in the houses or shops that would jndicate
H. Then MS | met him In the evening he
couducted me through what he said was
the principal business street.-the only
narrow and crooked like tho resi-. half a
mile in length and having on either side
commonplace shops badly lighted and
with moor disnIavs Of goods in the win
dows. There were no carriages. but it
yvos nlled with n crowd of nromenaders